Report exposes a “catalog of failures” with “catastrophic” consequences for victims and their loved ones.
British authorities and the NHS knowingly exposed tens of thousands of patients to deadly infections through contaminated blood and blood products and hid the truth about the disaster for decades, an inquiry into the scandal has found.
More than 30,000 people became infected with viruses such as HIV and hepatitis after receiving contaminated blood in the UK between the 1970s and early 1990s, the Infected Blood Inquiry found.
An estimated 3,000 people died and many others were left with lifelong illnesses in what is widely seen as the deadliest disaster in the history of Britain’s state-run National Health Service (NHS) since its creation in 1948.
The bombshell report – published on Monday and running to more than 2,500 pages – revealed a “catalogue of failures” with “catastrophic” consequences for victims and their loved ones.
Authored by Judge Brian Langstaff, it concluded that there were deliberate attempts to hide the scandal, including evidence that government officials destroyed documents in 1993.
“Looking at the response from the NHS and the government generally, the answer to the question: ‘Was there a cover-up?’ there was,” the report stated.
“Not in the sense of a handful of people hatching an orchestrated conspiracy to deceive, but in a way that was more subtle, more widespread and more frightening in its implications.
“In this way, much of the truth was hidden.”
Victims included people who required blood transfusions from accidents and surgeries and people suffering from blood diseases, such as hemophilia, who were treated with donated blood plasma products. In addition to the 3,000 people who died, many others were left with health problems throughout life.
“The scale of what happened is horrific,” Langstaff said.
“I must inform you that this could have been largely, although not entirely, avoided,” he concluded.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to express regret when he speaks in parliament later on Monday. A compensation package for victims and their families, expected to be worth several billion pounds, is expected to be announced by the government on Tuesday.
Former Prime Minister Theresa May launched the inquiry, one of the largest in the country, in 2017.
Activists said the report was the culmination of a decades-long struggle.
“We are emotional right now in the sense that it is like a 40-year struggle and it is coming to an end and we have reached the end of our energy levels,” said Suresh Vaghela, 61.
He received a contaminated blood product while being treated for hemophilia when he was about 13 years old and was infected with HIV and hepatitis C.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
